The Houston Texans insist they’re better than they were a year ago, but their record says they’re just the same.

The Texans overcame an 0-4 start to finish 8-8 for the second straight year, failing to make their first playoff trip in their seventh season. Houston won five of its last six games, including Sunday’s victory over Chicago.

“We know what we have to do,” Andre Johnson said. “It’s not going to be easy to get to the playoffs, but the thing we can’t do — what we did to ourselves this year — we just can’t start the season in a hole. We dug a hole for ourselves and we dug a hole too deep for us to climb out of it.”

The Texans had a tough first month, playing their first three games on the road and getting their bye in Week 2 after Hurricane Ike rearranged their schedule. Several players’ homes were damaged or destroyed and players and coaches alike were without electricity for as long as a week.

Still, the Texans didn’t dwell on that as a reason for their early season misfortune.

“I don’t use that as an excuse because even then there were games we could have won that we lost,” Mario Williams said. “So I don’t look at it that way.”

Johnson again proved he is one of the top receivers in the league, finishing with an NFL-best 115 receptions for 1,575 yards.

“This is the most fun I’ve had,” Johnson said. “I think we grew a lot this year.”

The Texans had the third-most potent offense in the NFL and Johnson’s career-high production was certainly helped by the improvement of the running game with the addition of rookie Steve Slaton.

Slaton was supposed to be the third-down back, but injuries soon pushed him into a starting role. He responded by becoming Houston’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2004 and his 1,282-yards rushing led a deep rookie class.

“Steve has great balance and when he’s given opportunities, he can go out and make plays,” Johnson said. “He can hurt you running the ball, catching the ball out of the backfield, so he’s a great addition to this team. I’m real excited to see what happens as he keeps getting older and gaining the experience.”

The strides Houston made on offense gives the team high expectations for finally making the playoffs next year.

“I think we’re very close,” Johnson said. “We’re very able to be a good football team. This year we were right there in the mix.”

Coach Gary Kubiak added a new wrinkle in Sunday’s finale against Chicago, letting offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan call the plays for the first time this season. The Texans gained 455 total yards and won 31-24.

Kubiak worked as offensive coordinator for Kyle’s father, Mike, in Denver before taking over the Texans.